When a corporation pays shareholders the market value of a share, thus repurchasing shares of stocks previously issued, reabsorbing that portion of ownership. This activity increases the value of the remaining shares because there is now less stock outstanding and earnings are split between fewer shareholders. Stock buybacks also increase earnings per share (since there are fewer shares), a valuable metric to Wall Street and thus CEOs and executives. Like dividends, they are profits that are not reinvested by the company into productive means, such as new hires, higher wages, or increased research and development. Instead, they are payouts to investors that are disproportionately already wealthy. Between 2010 and 2019, the publicly traded companies in the S&P 500 Index spent $6.3 trillion on buybacks.

Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, loc. 494